Study Guide
Colonial Era * factors in the European Age of Exploration (15th and 16th centuries) * major voyages of exploration and conquest * impact of exploration on American landscape and on Native Americans, Columbian exchange * differences between Spanish, French, and English colonies ** Relationship with Native Americans, Encomienda system * economic basis of the English colonies ** differences between New England, the middle colonies, southern colonies ** role of agriculture, industry, trade ** triangular trade * colonial society - note differences between New England, the middle colonies, and southern colonies ** labor force - explain the transition from indentured servitude to slavery ** ethnic diversity - English, Scots-Irish, African, French, etc. ** status of women ** relations with Native Americans - note major wars ** religious characteristics and influence on society *** Puritans (Congregational church) vs. Anglican Church vs. Quakers *** which areas were characterized by conformity? Which areas permitted religious diversity and dissent (consider Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams) ** First Great Awakening - causes, major characteristics, impact, etc. * relations with Great Britain ** mercantilism, salutary neglect, Navigation Acts ** colonial political institutions: colonial assemblies and their relationship with their governors * French and Indian War - consequences Revolution * causes of the Revolution ** restrictions on trade, taxes, Proclamation (line), infringement of rights, Boston Massacre ** colonial resistance and early colonial political organizations *** nonimportation, Stamp Act Congress, Committees of Correspondence, Continental Congresses, etc.) ** Declaration of Independence ** Common Sense by Thomas Paine * The Revolutinary War ** Battles *** Lexington and Concord *** Bunker Hill *** Saratoga *** Yorktown ** Consequences of the war (increase in equality, economic problems, etc.) Critical Period (1781-1787) * Articles of Confederation ** major characteristics ** accomplishments, including the Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 ** Problems/weaknesses ** Shay's Rebellion * U.S. Constitution ** The constitutional conventions ** Compromises (Great Compromise, 3/5 Compromise, Presidency, tariff) ** debate over ratification: federalists vs. antifederalists ** Federalist Papers Federalist Period (1789-1800) * The first Congress - what it accomplished * Washington's presidency * Jay Treaty * Pinckney Treaty * Neutrality Proclamation * Farewell Address * Jefferson and Hamilton: different beliefs, goals, ideas, etc. * Strict Construction vs. Loose Construction * XYZ Affair * undeclared war with France (Quasi War) ** Alien and Sedition Acts ** Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe (1800-1820) * Jefferson ** Election of 1800 ** Jefferson as president *** attitude toward Federalist programs *** Louisiana Purchase and reaction to it ** Aaron Burr Conspiracy ** John Marshall and the Supreme Court *** Marbury v. Madison -> judicial review! *** McCulloch v. Maryland, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Fletcher v. Peck, Gibbons v. Ogden, Cohens v. Virginia ** foreign policy: Embargo Act, impressments, Chesapeake Leopard Affair * James Madison ** War of 1812 *** Major causes: relations with France and Britain, embargo, war hawks, XYZ Affair, etc. *** Hartford Convention, decline of the Federalists *** Battle of New Orleans *** Major consequences (rise in nationalism, etc.) * James Monroe ** Monroe Doctrine ** Era of Good Feelings ** American system - economic nationalism ** Missouri Compromise ** Panic of 1819 Jacksonian Era * Election of 1824 ** corrupt bargain ** John Quincy Adams' record * Jacksonian Era ** New Democracy, mass politics ** Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster ** Jackson's Presidency *** spoils system, rotation in office *** strong executive - use of veto as instrument of political power ** 4 major issues *** Bank of the U.S., Nicholas Biddle *** Tariffs and Nullification crisis: Tariff of Abominations, South Carolina Exposition and Protest, etc. *** Internal improvements (roads, etc.) *** Indian removal: Trail of Tears ** Whig Party ** Martin Van Buren Economic Development (1820s-1840s) * economy - early industrialization ** The American System - economic nationalism ** Early railroads and canals ** shift from cottage indusdtry to factory system ** role of women - cult of domesticity, Lowell Fatory ** social mobility, extremes of wealth ** cotton revolution in the South, commercial agriculture ** westward settlement ** immigration patterns - Irish, German, Chinese ** Nativism: Know Nothing Party, "No Irish Need Apply," etc. Reform Era and Expansion (1830-1860) * rise of American literature and art ** American authors ** transcendentalists * Second Great Awakening (causes, main leaders, consequences) * utopian experiments * Mormons * major reform movements ** abolition of slavery ** temperance (alcohol) ** women's rights ** treatment of criminals and the insane ** rise of public educatin * territorial expansion ** President Polk ** Manifest Destiny ** Texas independence and the issue of annexation ** Oregon boundary ** California ** Mexican-American War *** issue of slavery, the Wilmot Proviso Sectionalism * The South ** cotton revolution in the South, Cotton Kingdom, trade ** Southern society ** justifications for slavery * The North (overlaps with "economy - early industrialization") ** industry and labor ** immigration patterns and nativism ** urban slums * specific laws/events that led to the Civil War ** Tariff of Abominations, South Carolina Exposition ** Mexican Cession ** abolitionists ** popular sovereignty ** Compromise of 1850 ** Fugitive Slave Law ** Uncle Tom's Cabin ** Kansas-Nebraska Act ** Lecompton Crisis - Bleeding Kansas ** End of the Whig Party; Republican Party established *** Dred Scott Case ** Lincoln-Douglas Debates ** John Brown's raid ** Election of 1860 - Lincoln ** Secession The Civil War (1860-1865) * advantages, disadvantages of both sides * The Union ** mobilization for war, including draft ** railraods (transcontinental) ** financing the war ** civil liberties and expansion of presidential power ** Election of 1864 * The South ** Confederacy - issues due to states' rights ** mobilization for war, including draft ** finance * foreign relations - what role did Britain, France, and Russia play? * military strategy and major battles (Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Sherman's March) * abolition of slavery ** Confiscation Acts ** Emancipation Proclamation ** Freedmen's Bureau ** 13th Amendment * effects of war on society ** inflation and public debt ** devastation of the South ** freedmen - what happened to them? ** role of women ** changing labor patterns Reconstruction (1865-1877) * Presidential Reconstruction: Lincoln and Johnson's plans ** 10% Plan ** Freedmen's Bureau ** Black Codes * Congressional Reconstruction ** why did Congress take charge? ** Civil Rights, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment ** "military reconstruction" ** Southern state governments - problems, achievements, weaknesses ** impeachment of Johnson * Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction (Election of 1876, etc.) * A "New South"? ** relations between whites and blacks ** Jim Crow Laws ** Ku Klux Klan ** The "Redeemers" ** Southern economy - sharecropping, some industry **